Butter mold



' H. E. HUMBARGER ,5

BUTTER MOLD FiIed Oct. 19, 1927 s a INVENTOR.

H- E Humbarqf CLQMPL ATTORNEY.

Patented May 7, 1929.

UNITED STATES 'HEBER E. -HUMBARGER,

or DECATUR, INDIANA.

BUTTER MOLD. I

Application filed October 19,1927. Serial Nol 227,183.

The invention relates to devices for molding butter. Y

In the dairy industry it is necessary to chill butter after it is removed from the churn so that it may solidify for packaging. The

practice heretofore generally followed has been to press the butter into very large and heavy cakes and the cakes are then placed in a cooler to chill them. Due to the mass of. the cakes they must remain in the cooler a long period of time to become chilled throughout.

. These chilled cakes are very heavy and are most difiicult to cut up into sizes proper to be fed to the printing machine. i I

The object of my invention is to provide novel means by which relatively small cakes of butter suitable for insertion in the print machine are molded and supported for chilling purposes.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which,

Fi ure 1 is a plan view of the mold; Fig. 2 a side elevational view of the same; Fig. 3 a crosssection on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 an end view of the mold in discharging condition; Fig. 5 a side elevational view of the rack; Fig. 6 a fractional plan view of the rack and Fig. 7 a detail View of one of the shelves of the rack.

The mold consists 'of preferably two sides 1 and 2 and two ends 3 and 4, the ends and sides being formed preferably of wood. The bottom of the mold is formed-by a portable shelf hereinafter described. The end members are rigidly supported inparallel relation by the tie rods 5 and 5 and the nuts 6 thereon. The side members 1 and 2 are bet-ween the upper tie rods 5 and are hinged to the lower tie rods 5 by the straps or bars 7 that are secured to the outer faces of said side members and are curved or looped at their lower ends to receive the lower tie rods.

The upper ends of the straps 7 are also curved or looped to receive the rods 8, one strap on. each side member being secured to a rod 8 to prevent longitudinal movement of the rods 8 on the straps.

A frame or collar 10 is shaped to fit over the top of the mold and handles 11 are attached to the opposite ends of the frame for convenience in handling. In each end member 12 of the frame are two cam slot-s13 which incline inwardly and are adapted to be engaged by the ends'of the rods8. The angle of inclination of the slots is such that when the frame is in its lowermost position, the rods 8 then being at the upper ends of the slots, and the frame is elevated, the slots cause the rods 8ito move outwardly or separate, the 1sl de members being rocked outwardly on their inges.

-The moldis placed on one 'ofthe shelves of the rack 14, (Fig. 5) about to be described,

of the mold.

Butter, is removed from the churn and packed tightly into the mold-,: the frame-10 being in its lowermost position. When the mold is filled the frame is elevated to release the side members of the mold whereupon the mold is readily lifted off the molded butter and the cake of molded butter remains on the shelf. The operation is repeated until the shelves of the rack are filled, the rackbeing then moved into the cooler.

The rack 14 is formed of four corner angle bars 15 to the lower shelf 16 is suitably secured. Casters 17 may be suitably attached to the bars for convenience in moving the rack. Above the shelf and suitably spaced are any selected number of additional shelves 18, the height of the angle bars and the two additional shelves,

shown being illustrative only.

Each of the additionalshelves is hinged at one endto two adjacentcorner angle bars and the opposite end of the shelf normally rests on stops or brackets 18 secured to the so that said shelf forms thetemporary bottom 1 portions of whichthe other two corner angle bars respectively.

Each shelf is preferably. formed of metal having a depending flange 19 at each of the four sides thereof. Longitudinal slots 20 are formed in two opposite flanges 19 near one end thereof and a bolt or rod 21 is loosely extended through both slots and through the two adjacent corner angle bars and fixed to the bars by the nuts 22.- lVhen the shelf is in horizontalposition the bolt ispositioned at the outer ends of the slots. Upon swinging the shelf upwardly, as shown in Fig. 5,- the shelf drops down until the upper ends of the slots are engaged by the bolt 21. The end of the shelf below the pivot bolt 21 abuts the adjacent corner angle bars and prevents the shelf from rocking to a horizontal position. The shelf, therefore, remains in substantially upright position until it is elevated to cause the bolt to abut the lowerends.

of the slots 20, whereupon the shelf is swung to a horizontal position in contact with the brackets 18. Each hinged shelf affords ready access to the shelf below for placing the mold upon it and for removing the mold from the molded cake of butter that remains on the shelf. 7 a

It is thus seen that the bottom of thelmold is a shelf of a rack and that two opposite walls of the mold are fixed relatively to each other, the other opposite walls being hinged at'their lower portions so that they will swing-out wardly to release the cake of butter formed on the bottom and between the said four walls.

The mold is highly sanitary and is readily taken apart for a thorough cleaning by merely removing the outer nut 6 on one end of each tie rod. The temporary bottoms 16,

18 being formed of sheet metal are also readily cleaned.

The takes of butter, being relativelysinall and of a size to be received by the printing machine, are readily cooled and handled so that much time and labor are saved in theindustry.

What I claim is:

1. A butter mold consisting of a portable bottom, two upright walls adapted to be removably supported on the bottom, members secured to said walls to fix said walls inspaced relation, side walls pivotally mounted on some of said members and a movable member about the upper portions of the walls and having connections with the side walls and adapted when said movable member is moved in a vertical plane to cause said side walls to swing in opposite directions.

2. A butter mold comprising two spaced end walls, a plurality of members connected to both walls, two side walls pivotally mounted at their lower portions on some of said members for lateral swinging movement, each side wall having projecting means on the outer face thereof and a movableframe having cam slots vtherein engaged by said projecting means whereby when the frame is moved in selected direction the side walls are causedto swing in opposite directions.

3. A butter mold comprising two spaced end walls, a plurality of rods extending through both said walls and secured thereto,

side walls pivotally mounted at their lower portions to some of said rods, each side wall near its upper edge having a rod supported thereon, the ends of which rod project beyond the ends of the said wall and a movable frame about the ends and sides having cam slots therein engaged by the projecting ends of the rods.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 13th day of October, 1927.

. HEBER E. HUMBARGER. 

